Spiritual Disciplines
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One more brush stroke
In early 2018, when I started this blog, I decided to name it “Naptime Musings,” because at that time, I was mainly writing during Zoe’s naps. They were not very predictable at that point, and there was always a far too long list of things I wanted to get done in those 45-90 minutes. There were several clear calls in 2018. The centerpiece call was to learn humility in motherhood. But I also felt a call to minister through the written word. So I resolved to be more intentional about writing, and to create a blog. There were bigger and smaller scraps of time throughout the year to write – some were…
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Coming back to light
Moments of joy on dark days I believe it was postpartum depression. It lasted about 7 weeks, ebbing and flowing. Some days the gloom is not there at all, and my heart is light, my energy full. Some days the dark thoughts start the moment my brain moves from sleep to consciousness, and I feel fragile, and raw. As I come back into the light again now, I look back and am grateful for Ryan, for family, for friends, and for the Word that reminded me of unchanging truths when my emotions swirled. I can’t add anything to the wealth of wisdom and deep, deep faith of the spiritual giants who…
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Lessons from fasting from media
It was a few days before Valentine’s Day/Ash Wednesday. I found myself harried and impatient as I herded the boys along to make Valentines for their friends. And when I paused, I realized that at least part of the stress came from wanting to capture an Instagram-worthy moment of cute boys with their appropriately childishly handmade hearts. Two days till the beginning of Lent, a season to practice humility, suffering, surrender, and repentance, and I was intent on being seen. Something needed to change. Even before this moment, I was aware of an addiction. When I started feeling a little stressed, when I didn’t want to engage with the kids,…